Coinbase is Still Committed to the US Crypto Market, CEO Says
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that his company is 100% committed to the US market and is not leaving the country.
- The exchange announced that it would be winding down Coinbase Borrow, a service that allowed US investors to borrow cash for crypto.
- Armstrong said that he has faith in the US lawmakers and their motivation to bring the best and most suitable crypto legislation.
- He said that his company’s engagement with the SEC has yielded no positive results as the regulator failed to point out its concerns.
The leading crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase, might not be leaving the US market after all, despite the regulatory hindrances that the securities regulator of the region, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has put in the way of the development of crypto companies. Interestingly, the CEO of the only publicly listed digital asset trading company in the US, Brian Armstrong, stated that his company is “100% committed” to the country, adding that he has faith in the regulators.
In a statement on May 5, Armstrong assured the company’s shareholders regarding its faithfulness to the US market. Moreover, the faithfulness of Coinbase in the US market comes at a time when the SEC and US lawmakers are cracking down heavily on all the blockchain-focused crypto companies.
“So let me be clear, we’re 100% committed to the U.S. I founded this company in the United States because I saw that rule of law prevails here. That’s really important, and I’m actually really optimistic on the U.S. getting this right,” Armstrong said.
Additionally, as per Armstrong, whenever he visits the regulators in Washington, DC, “there is strong bipartisan support for Congress to come in and create new legislation that would create a clear rule book in the U.S., and I think it’s really important for America to get this right.” The Coinbase executive has strong faith in the US Congress and their motivation to pass suitable crypto legislation for investors.
However, Armstrong is not entirely optimistic when it comes to the unpredictable enforcement actions that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under the leadership of Gary Gensler, takes against crypto companies. It is important to mention here that Coinbase recently received a Wells Notice from the regulator regarding its staking services. The regulator also has reasons to believe that the trading platform lists securities.
Armstrong stated that “it’s especially difficult to predict the timeline of any potential SEC litigation that we might face,” while adding:
“Despite our ongoing engagement with the commission, they have not been as clear about what their specific concerns are with Coinbase as we might like, and so I have to refrain from speculating too much.”
As reported earlier by Bitnation, Coinbase recently sent an email to its users saying that it will stop the issuance of new loans via its Borrow Service, which allows crypto investors to use their crypto as collateral and receive cash for their usage. New loans can be taken prior to May 10, following which only existing customers will be able to continue their loans.
Coinbase also made public its Q1 2023 results on May 4, and it was confirmed that the company managed to significantly narrow its net loss and performed much better than expected. The shares of the company climbed almost 8% as a result. Moreover, the company’s net loss fell from $557 million in Q4 2022 to $79 million in Q1, partly attributed to a 22% increase in revenue to $736 million.
As per the shareholders letter, the transaction volume revenue from institutional investors of Coinbase went up by 66% to over $22.3 million, while transaction revenue from retail investors increased by 14.1% to $352.1 million.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
